CHAPTER 55: CHAPTER 55: ANGRY BOY

"Aah!"

Adam ran. That was the only thing he could do at the moment. It didn’t matter where; he just needed to get away from the nightmare hatching everywhere around him. But he’d only made it a few steps before he felt something warm and large drop onto his shoulder.

They were supposed to be mindless babies, and yet the first thing that landed on his shoulder was a pair of fangs the size of knives.

The pain was... interesting. Like a flame injected directly into his veins.

This pain was impatient, however, as another baby verdlecks fell onto him.

Fortunately for Adam, it didn’t land on him this time.

Unfortunately for Adam, the fangs still managed to stab through him, and this time, the fangs dragged down through the flesh on his back.

Before he could even shake the two serpents, another slithered through the murky water and bit him in the thigh.

Adam could see his veins turning blue beneath his skin, their venom spreading rapidly through his bloodstream. His blood began to clot, becoming thicker by the second.

But Adam pushed through the pain. He had already felt this several times before, back in the Hospital.

Venoms, poisons, toxins, diseases, viruses, infections.

The Hospital had injected all sorts of things into his body because he was the perfect host. His body doesn’t adapt to it as it heals everything, and so the damage—the pain would always remain the same. Every. Single. Time.

Do you remember, Adam? How she told us to think through the pain? How she apologized, and how she said that what we do—our pain, it would help billions of lives?

"Hmm," Adam’s face twitched from the pain crawling throughout his entire body. It was hard to move, but he still could.

He grabbed the verdleck from his shoulder and slammed it against a tree, while shooting the one biting through his leg.

With these verdlecks having just hatched from their eggs, their scales were still completely soft, and the bullet went straight from the serpent’s head and into the murky water beneath.

And finally, Adam planted the barrel of his gun on his waist—no. He pointed it on the verdleck hanging on his back that was already starting to coil around his waist.

And without even any hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

"Kh..." He slightly winced as the bullet went through the soft flesh of the serpent and right through his belly. But he didn’t care at all.

The verdlecks began to thrash around, and Adam did not waste time at all to grab it by its tail, swinging and slamming it on the hard roots several times.

He stepped forward again, his movements fighting against the venom coursing through his veins. It felt as if he were wading through the crushing pressure of the ocean depths—and this one, he knew exactly how it felt...the Hospital took him to the deepest parts of the ocean and left him there, after all.

His veins pulsated, cycling between the blue of the venom and his body’s abnormal regenerative ability. Blue, then red, then blue again.

If it didn’t hurt so much, Adam would have probably found it funny—how a metaphor of the Game was happening inside him right now.

But once again, however, Adam wasn’t afraid of the pain—no.

He was mad.

Furious at these creatures, at this place, at the whole damned Game that forced him to experience all of this again. And for the first time, he couldn’t even feel the pain—the rage inside him was burning hotter than the venom.

And so, instead of running, he chose to turn around.

"Haa..." His jaw opened, and an almost feral hiss escaped his mouth. He imitated the sound of the dozens of fat baby serpents coiling everywhere around him.

He tapped the gun against his head several times, and he gritted his teeth and snarled.

Smile, Adam. It’s the only promise you can keep right now.

And with a deep breath...he smiled and pointed his gun forward.

***

[Outside the Leak]

An entire day had passed, and Vincent led the Nightraptor back into the Blue Leak, accompanied by even more veteran creeps this time around since they already knew what sort of terrain they were dealing with.

They have been slogging through the murky swamp for hours now, and have already passed through where they stopped during their earlier run. They pushed aside hanging vines and dispatched verdlecks whenever they appeared.

The veteran creeps’ clothing were also more appropriate to traverse the swamp now, allowing them to traverse the treacherous terrain even faster.

"Is it just me expecting there to be more verdlecks?" one of the creeps complained, wiping sweat from his brow. "I... I still don’t have enough scales and hide for the armor."

"Don’t be too greedy," another responded, checking his rifle nervously. "Just make a chestplate or a helmet and quit while you’re ahead. You’re lucky to even be alive today."

"He’s right. Four people died yesterday, and now five more," a third creep added, eyes constantly scanning the surrounding trees. "What’s the point of having armor if you’re already dead before the Game summons you again?"

The veteran creeps continued their nervous chatter, but their eyes remained vigilant, scanning every shadow and ripple in the water.

The Heroes were the same, their eyes careful not to miss any sign of the verdrakill, as it was relatively stealthy for its size.

Vincent was at the front with Eugene and Dennis flanking him, mapping the swamp as they waded through knee-deep water.

"Hmm? Wait!" Vincent raised his hand suddenly, halting the group. "I... sense something ahead."

They pushed forward even more cautiously as he said that, until something stopped them in their tracks—a crack.

Vincent slowly turned his head down, and there he saw it.

Eggshells. And not only beneath the water beneath them. It was everywhere. Broken and scattered across the swampy ground.

"Stop!" Eugene was the first to raise his fist. Vincent quickly scanned their surroundings, and they all readied their weapons.

They slowly and slightly lowered them, however, when they also noticed the countless dead baby verdlecks strewn about.

"Stay... vigilant," Vincent whispered, his hand hovering over his blades and his silhouette .

"Shouldn’t we go back!?" some the veteran creeps complained, their voices pitched with fear.

The Heroes ignored them and continued to press forward.

After all, this was their Leak.

"Did...someone sneak past last night?" Vincent gripped his dagger even tighter, "I thought the others were guarding it."

"No report came," Dennis shook his head, "Could it be...another monster?"

"In a Blue Leak?" Eugene shook his head, "I don’t think so."

"Well, whatever it is..." Vincent’s lips twitched, "...someone else is here. Keep your eyes up."

They made their way deeper into the swamp, and the carnage only grew worse. Dead verdlecks hung from branches, their bodies split open by the jaws. Some were pinned to trees with sharp sticks made from the branches. A few floated in the murky water, riddled with what looked like bullet holes.

"Wait..."

And then, they reached a clearing with even more corpses—some of them were adults now. Their eyes followed the trail of destruction to the center of the clearing.

"Is that...?"

There, a human sat on a mound of corpses.

He was holding a stick that was pierced through the eyes of the verdleck he was sitting on. His clothes were torn and soaked with blood and swamp water. But surprisingly, aside from his eyes that were completely blank, the rest of him was completely unscathed.

"Is... that a person!?" one of the newer creeps gasped.

"Look! He... he has a halo! He’s a creep!" another pointed at the faint blue glow above the man’s head.

Vincent was about to confront the person, but he stopped in his tracks as he recognized the person’s face.

"Wait... holy fuck..." The veteran creeps who had been part of yesterday’s exploration began to clamor. "Isn’t that the one that was dragged away and eaten by the boss!? What was his name... Chris!?"

It was Adam, sitting on a mountain of dead verdlecks, his green vacant eyes almost glowing within the swamp.